Global apple shortage

You may have noticed a lack of apples in the fruit bags over the last few weeks. This is because there's currently a global apple shortage. The UK apples usually see us through all the way until May but not this year. Due to the frost last April a lot of fruit was lost – the UK apple harvest was down by 25% compared to the year before; And you may have noticed that the apples this season were larger than usual – this was also a result of the unusual weather. The cold April stopped apple trees from flowering fully, limiting the pollination essential for fruit growth. However, favourable conditions later in the growing season gave a nutrient boost to the remaining apples which had got off to an early start, allowing them to grow to their giant size. In other parts of Europe the cold spring followed by very hot summer meant a lot of the crop was lost to heat damage as well.

This has increased demand from Southern Hemisphere growers who keep Europe and the USA stocked with apples all year round. Our policy is to only source fruit from Europe, and as much from the UK as possible (with the exception of bananas – since it's such a popular fruit we'd prefer people were buying them from our fairtrade and organic sources rather than the supermarket equivalent).

So you may notice more citrus in your fruit bags in the coming weeks and we have a bit of a limited choice of European fruit. Rhubarb will be ready very soon and Peach & Pippin in Essex will be supplying us with their beautiful plums by end of May.

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This veg box scheme was launched with help from the Growing Communities Start-up Programme which aims to transform the food system by helping people set up local, sustainable vegetable box schemes across the country.